EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE | Thu Sep 08 16:42:03 EDT 2011

“ACS believes America’s best future – both for the immediate and long-term health of our country – depends on the creation of new jobs,” said ACS President Nancy B. Jackson, Ph.D. “The key to rebuilding the U.S. economy is enactment of policies that will create a business climate favorable to the creation of new jobs, and that is going to take innovation, determination and a strong bi-partisan effort.”

In 2010, ACS created a jobs task force charged with examining how to stem further job losses and how to create new, high-paying, science-based jobs here in the United States. On Monday, Aug. 29, 2011, the task force released its report Innovation, Chemistry, and Jobs, which maps critical steps to pioneer new economic growth: policies that both create a better business climate and empower entrepreneurs.

With more than 163,000 members who work in the chemical sciences as researchers in U.S. universities and national laboratories, in industry, as teachers at all levels and across all scientific disciplines, ACS puts the creation of new jobs as one of its top priorities. Since 2008, the United States has lost 25,000 chemistry-based jobs and more than 300,000 such jobs in the last 20 years.

The task force report explains how chemical entrepreneurs are uniquely positioned to take high-value innovations and commercialize new products and processes to greatly stimulate economic productivity. The bottom line? To create jobs.

“In this report, ACS calls for a return to greater entrepreneurship to stimulate economic growth through the commercialization of new ideas,” said Jackson. “The chemical enterprise is one of our nation’s most valuable economic sectors and holds the keys to solving some of our most pressing challenges in areas of energy self-sufficiency, healthcare, food quality and environmental sustainability. ACS will soon have in place an Entrepreneurial Resource Center that will provide tools, training and support to its members so they can turn innovations into economic growth.”

Allow the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to keep and use application fees to increase the number of patent examiners to expedite the patent application process and reduce the patent backlog.

Strengthen intellectual property protection in trade policy to reduce instances of foreign violation of American copyright and patent holdings.

Provide grants, low-interest loans and accelerated depreciation tax incentives to mitigate the high costs of start-up businesses and industries that retool.

Expand funding for federal programs that support small businesses, such as Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) and Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC).

Provide incentives for larger companies to expand investments in start-up research and development businesses.

To download Innovation, Chemistry, and Jobs and access a wide array of materials and information regarding innovation, entrepreneurship and business climate policies visit: www.acs.org/CreatingJobs.